1930496 (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the application of a Bangladeshi citizen for a Bridging E (Class WE) visa, subclasses 050 and 051. The applicant arrived in Australia in December 2012 and subsequently applied for a protection visa, which was refused. After a series of judicial reviews that ultimately affirmed the refusal of his protection visa application, the applicant applied for a Bridging E visa on 10 October 2019. The Tribunal had previously notified the applicant under section 359A of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) that information suggesting he did not meet the criteria for a bridging visa would form part of the reason for affirming the decision not to grant it.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for the grant of a Bridging E visa, specifically Subclass 050 (Bridging (General)) or Subclass 051 (Bridging (Protection Visa Applicant)). This involved determining if the applicant satisfied clause 050.211, which requires the applicant to be an unlawful non-citizen or the holder of a Bridging E visa or Subclass 041 visa, and not an eligible non-citizen under specific regulations. A key sub-regulation, 2.20(17), was also relevant, which applies if the non-citizen is unlawful, section 195A of the Act is not available to the Minister, and the Minister is satisfied that removal is not reasonably practicable.

The Tribunal reasoned that while the applicant was an unlawful non-citizen at the time of his Bridging E visa application on 10 October 2019, satisfying the first limb of clause 050.211, he did not meet the requirements of sub-regulation 2.20(17). This was because his last bridging visa had expired on 3 November 2015, and his application for judicial review had been dismissed by the Federal Court on a prior date. Crucially, at the time he applied for the Bridging E visa, he was neither in immigration detention nor was his removal from Australia reasonably practicable. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not satisfy the criteria for either a Subclass 050 or Subclass 051 visa.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a Bridging E (Class WE) visa.